eBay watchers

SimonAH
SimonAH Posts: 3,730
edited June 2011 in Commuting chat
Whenever I sell something desireable on t'bay I always seem to attract an absolute raft of watchers. Currently selling a Yamaha Virago and have 77 watchers. These people can't be too serious as there's been only one sensible question and one visit to look at the bike, so, what are these people doing?

Is it a form of voyeurism?
FCN 5 belt driven fixie for city bits
CAADX 105 beastie for bumpy bits
Litespeed L3 for Strava bits

Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

Comments

  • chilling
    chilling Posts: 267
    When thinking of selling/buying an item I'll quite often put a few similar times in my watch list to gauge what sort of price things are going for. Much easier to open myebay after they have finished to see what went on.
  • night_porter
    night_porter Posts: 888
    There is absolutely no point in bidding early on anything for 2 reasons.

    You will guarantee someone will outbid you while you are away from the computer.

    You might have made a bid and another one of the same comes up with a buy it now price lower than you have bid and you cannot bid on it because you are already committed.
  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    Yeah, I only bid in the last 5 seconds if buying. Bidding with time to spare just drives up the price for no reason (good for sellers I know).
    Rose Xeon CW Disc
    CAAD12 Disc
    Condor Tempo
  • SimonAH
    SimonAH Posts: 3,730
    Fortunately just got a bid - good for sellers :D
    FCN 5 belt driven fixie for city bits
    CAADX 105 beastie for bumpy bits
    Litespeed L3 for Strava bits

    Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
  • dcurzon
    dcurzon Posts: 290
    23 watchers on a set of ducati corse dainese leathers. only 5 people bidded and went for well below what i was after. still, made some room in the garage (not much)
    B'Twin Sport 1
    FCN 7 =4, +2(non cycling clothes) +1(beard)
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,252
    Sold a Yamaha SZR660 recently. Also had 77 watchers. I wrote that I would recommend viewing it and after 6 days only 1 person had asked to see it. I had a buy it now of £1100 and a starting bid of £600. The guy turned up to see it on Sunday morning with the auction finishing that evening. He had a look and offered me £1000 cash there and then. I was happy with that so as there were no bids I stopped the auction.
    I then had 6 emails asking if they could buy the bike. 1 cheeky sod offered me £500 for it. When you tell people they really should view it and it's advertised elsewhere why are they surprised when it sells?
    Idiots.
  • gb155
    gb155 Posts: 2,048
    There is absolutely no point in bidding early on anything for 2 reasons.

    You will guarantee someone will outbid you while you are away from the computer.

    You might have made a bid and another one of the same comes up with a buy it now price lower than you have bid and you cannot bid on it because you are already committed.


    The HIGHEST Bid, ALWAYS Wins
    On a Mission to lose 20 stone..Get My Life Back

    December 2007 - 39 Stone 05 Lbs

    July 2011 - 13 Stone 12 Lbs - Cycled 17851 Miles

    http://39stonecyclist.com
    Now the hard work starts.
  • cornerblock
    cornerblock Posts: 3,228
    gb155 wrote:
    There is absolutely no point in bidding early on anything for 2 reasons.

    You will guarantee someone will outbid you while you are away from the computer.

    You might have made a bid and another one of the same comes up with a buy it now price lower than you have bid and you cannot bid on it because you are already committed.


    The HIGHEST Bid, ALWAYS Wins

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Du09HAwtBk
  • gb155
    gb155 Posts: 2,048
    gb155 wrote:
    There is absolutely no point in bidding early on anything for 2 reasons.

    You will guarantee someone will outbid you while you are away from the computer.

    You might have made a bid and another one of the same comes up with a buy it now price lower than you have bid and you cannot bid on it because you are already committed.


    The HIGHEST Bid, ALWAYS Wins

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Du09HAwtBk

    I was simply pointing out that someone CANT out bid you if your away from your PC if your bid is higher regardless of how early its made, as indicated by Night Porter !
    On a Mission to lose 20 stone..Get My Life Back

    December 2007 - 39 Stone 05 Lbs

    July 2011 - 13 Stone 12 Lbs - Cycled 17851 Miles

    http://39stonecyclist.com
    Now the hard work starts.
  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    gb155 wrote:
    gb155 wrote:
    There is absolutely no point in bidding early on anything for 2 reasons.

    You will guarantee someone will outbid you while you are away from the computer.

    You might have made a bid and another one of the same comes up with a buy it now price lower than you have bid and you cannot bid on it because you are already committed.


    The HIGHEST Bid, ALWAYS Wins

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Du09HAwtBk

    I was simply pointing out that someone CANT out bid you if your away from your PC if your bid is higher regardless of how early its made, as indicated by Night Porter !

    Still makes sense to bid late. People don't just put in their highest bid and walk away, they get into the auction mentality, bidding just a few pounds more here or there. If you bid at the last minute and don't give people the time to decide whether they want to extend their budget then you'll end up with a cheaper item.
    Rose Xeon CW Disc
    CAAD12 Disc
    Condor Tempo
  • EKE_38BPM
    EKE_38BPM Posts: 5,821
    The good thing with ebay is that you don't pay whatever your maximum bid was, you pay just a bit more than the next highest bidder, so I bid the maximum I am willing to pay for something and then don't look at it again until after the auction has ended.
    If I win, I know that I didn't get overexcited and pay more than I really wanted to. If I lose, I know that it went for more than I was willing to pay.

    I may not win every auction that I enter, but I never pay more than I think something is worth.
    FCN 3: Raleigh Record Ace fixie-to be resurrected sometime in the future
    FCN 4: Planet X Schmaffenschmack 2- workhorse
    FCN 9: B Twin Vitamin - winter commuter/loan bike for trainees

    I'm hungry. I'm always hungry!
  • PBo
    PBo Posts: 2,493
    EKE_38BPM wrote:
    The good thing with ebay is that you don't pay whatever your maximum bid was, you pay just a bit more than the next highest bidder, so I bid the maximum I am willing to pay for something and then don't look at it again until after the auction has ended.
    If I win, I know that I didn't get overexcited and pay more than I really wanted to. If I lose, I know that it went for more than I was willing to pay.

    I may not win every auction that I enter, but I never pay more than I think something is worth.

    and there lies the nub. some people get caught up with winning, and will pay a bit more than they think it's worth!

    Therefore, late bidding restricts other people's chance of acting rashly. auto bidding your maximum and then walking away until after the auction will prevent you paying more than you want to, but provides information to other bidders sooner, giving them more time to be less rational than you!
  • nation
    nation Posts: 609
    I sold a bike part on ebay (bought the wrong size for a project and didn't realise until long after the return period had expired). Nothing at all happened until the last day of the auction, when the bids rocketed to the point where the winning bidder paid nearly double the RRP of the part, and more than double the price it is available for from several online retailers.

    I've bid a few times on parts in search of bargains and seen the same thing happen. I rarely win auctions, but it's no great loss because I actually do bid the max I'm willing to pay from the outset.
  • EKE_38BPM
    EKE_38BPM Posts: 5,821
    PBo wrote:
    EKE_38BPM wrote:
    The good thing with ebay is that you don't pay whatever your maximum bid was, you pay just a bit more than the next highest bidder, so I bid the maximum I am willing to pay for something and then don't look at it again until after the auction has ended.
    If I win, I know that I didn't get overexcited and pay more than I really wanted to. If I lose, I know that it went for more than I was willing to pay.

    I may not win every auction that I enter, but I never pay more than I think something is worth.

    and there lies the nub. some people get caught up with winning, and will pay a bit more than they think it's worth!

    Therefore, late bidding restricts other people's chance of acting rashly. auto bidding your maximum and then walking away until after the auction will prevent you paying more than you want to, but provides information to other bidders sooner, giving them more time to be less rational than you!

    But when the bid they instantly get a message saying they've bid outbid. If they leave their bid until the last moment and are outbid they don't have time to bid again and I win (I hope).
    FCN 3: Raleigh Record Ace fixie-to be resurrected sometime in the future
    FCN 4: Planet X Schmaffenschmack 2- workhorse
    FCN 9: B Twin Vitamin - winter commuter/loan bike for trainees

    I'm hungry. I'm always hungry!
  • SimonAH
    SimonAH Posts: 3,730
    I sort of do the same thing when I'm looking to buy - bid the max I'm willing to pay but leave it to the last second. Psychology is that it may make the final price lower because the (currently) winning bidder may have actually placed a 'just past the post' bid rather than their max spend limit. By leaving it to the last second you may then snipe them from re-entering a max spend bid.

    On the auction in question I'm now up to 88 watchers with six hours or so to go... The one bid is from the guy that came to see the bike and knows it's a goodun'.

    Hey ho. I know what I'll be doing this evening.

    As an aside I sold a POS Schwinn bike last year for over £600 - expected £100 and paid £30 so there is always the chance of a weird bunfight on these things (the auction went from £70 to £600 odd in the last three or four minutes). Fingers crossed for a repeat!
    FCN 5 belt driven fixie for city bits
    CAADX 105 beastie for bumpy bits
    Litespeed L3 for Strava bits

    Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
  • EKE_38BPM
    EKE_38BPM Posts: 5,821
    So, how did the auction go?
    Will you be drinking Lambrini or Krug?
    FCN 3: Raleigh Record Ace fixie-to be resurrected sometime in the future
    FCN 4: Planet X Schmaffenschmack 2- workhorse
    FCN 9: B Twin Vitamin - winter commuter/loan bike for trainees

    I'm hungry. I'm always hungry!
  • SimonAH
    SimonAH Posts: 3,730
    EKE_38BPM wrote:
    So, how did the auction go?
    Will you be drinking Lambrini or Krug?

    Prosecco. Actually really because I bet my other half a bottle on whether or not we'd hit a price point and we did, so I won. So she buys the Prosecco with my money. :D
    FCN 5 belt driven fixie for city bits
    CAADX 105 beastie for bumpy bits
    Litespeed L3 for Strava bits

    Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.